Neighbors, victims troubled by Seabrook murder suspect

By
Max Sullivan

Posted Sep 6, 2018 at 6:33 PMUpdated Sep 6, 2018 at 6:33 PM

Catrina Costello [Seabrook police photo]▲

Neighbors raise their candles to send strength to Erin VanDalindas who is currently hospitalized after she and her husband and dog were struck while on a walk Aug. 29. Stephen and their German shepherd Lucy died from injuries.[Ioanna Raptis/Seacoastonline]▲

Stephen VanDalinda▲

SEABROOK -- Catrina Costello, accused of murdering a neighbor with whom she had feuded for years, was sued last year in superior court over her pit bull attacking another neighbor.

Costello, 38, arrested Aug. 29 for allegedly driving a car into her neighbors Stephen and Erin VanDalinda and their German shepherd Lucy on Pine Street, was sued in September 2017 by Carolyn Corning, a few doors down from Costello in the Greenleaf Drive neighborhood.

Corning was a guest at a social gathering hosted by Costello in 2014, she wrote in her suit in Rockingham Superior Court, when the dog attacked and bit her left hand, causing lasting parathesia. The case is scheduled to go to trial this fall.

Stephen VanDalinda, who was killed by Costello's car and whose wife was hospitalized, claimed he too was bitten in the arm by one of Costello's pit bulls in 2016, which helped convince a judge to sign the VanDalindas' stalking order of protection against Costello the following year.

Lucy, also killed in the Aug. 29th crash, was mauled by Costello's dogs in the same incident where Stephen VanDalinda was bitten, the VanDalindas said in their court filing.

Corning could not be reached for comment Friday. A woman who answered the door at Costello's 21 Greenleaf Drive home, where a pit bull looked through a window, declined to speak.

The VanDalindas, who live at 20 Greenleaf Drive, have requested not to be asked for comment by members of the media. Erin VanDalinda, is recovering from serious injuries including broken ribs, a broken femur, a fractured tibia and a collapsed lung.

Costello was also charged with two counts each of second-degree assault, aggravated driving while intoxicated, conduct after an accident, as well as three counts of violation of a stalking order of protection. She is being held without bail after waiving her arraignment in Rockingham Superior Court on Aug. 30.

Residents say the pit bulls and their history in the neighborhood are only a part of what has left them uneasy of Costello, who they say often remains unseen in a neighborhood where everyone knows each other's names, hobbies and family happenings.

Marilyn Johnston, who lives a few doors down from Costello and is close friends with the VanDalindas, said she never knew what Costello even looked like before she saw her face in the news the day after the arrest. She and her husband Colby had heard from the VanDalindas of their disputes with Costello, including how Stephen VanDalinda said he was bitten, Lucy mauled. The Johnstons said Stephen VanDalinda missed time at his job as a nurse at Exeter Hospital to recover from the attack.

The Johnstons said others were wary of Costello, as well, walking on the opposite side of the road when they passed by.

"We were afraid of her and the dogs," said Janet Lavigne, who lives on Greenleaf Drive. "Everybody was afraid if those dogs got out."

Lavigne, the Johnstons and other neighbors have said they are confident Costello intended to strike the VanDalindas with her vehicle. Lavigne called it "deliberate murder" and is upset that Costello is not facing a harsher murder charge. Senior Assistant Attorney General Geoff Ward said Costello is not being charged with purposefully killing VanDalinda but doing so in reckless state.

Neighbors, who gathered Aug. 30 for a candlelight vigil, remembered Stephen VanDalinda as kind, funny and one to host fun parties where he could share his home-made beer. Lavigne recalled VanDalinda at a party and how he "put on his hat and his German stuff and make German beer." Beer making was something he enjoyed with his son, said the Johnstons.

Lucy, the Johnstons said, were the focus of the VanDalindas' lives now that their children had grown up. They were frequently walking Lucy together around the neighborhood.

The VanDalindas were in the process of moving to Raymond at the time of the crash, and Colby Johnston said Costello was the reason they were leaving the neighborhood they otherwise loved.

It was two weeks ago the Johnstons and VanDalindas went to dinner when Stephen VanDalinda brought his iPad in from the car to show pictures of their new home's construction progress. Marilyn Johnston smiled as she recalled Stephen VanDalinda's excitement.

"He's very endearing, and I still speak in the present," said Marilyn Johnston, tearing up. "A really endearing guy."

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